nervous. some have said that s&p could be followed by moody's. the international monetary fund, which is the institution that normally jumps in to try to help troubled economies, they reported just a couple of months ago that since the u.s. deficit is likely to hit a 11% of our total gross national product, that this was a real warning signal. s&p is a lagging indicator. all of the serious economic observers are looking at this and saying we're in real trouble. s&p is late to the game. host: let's go to our first phone call for john fund. ruth is a democrat in memph, >> caller: i am so profoundly disappointed in c-span this morning to introduce this man as a journalist. >> host: i said he's a columnist. >> caller: well, okay, a -- no,: the headline said journalist, and it was washington -- he's being called a journalist, he'se been a spokesperson for theican republican party for years.